During the era known as the Renaissance, a rebirth of classical Greek ideals helped turn in new directions art, society, science and thought. Rational and trained thought were the highest goals to which mankind could aspire. The increasing secularism of the era focused on humanism, especially a philosophy that stressed individual dignity, self-worth, and posited a high value on reason or rational thought. A Renaissance man was often an enlightened, rational individual with a capacity for multiple talents from the arts to politics. Hamlet represents such a ôRenaissanceö man. HamletÆs rational deliberations illustrate a primary characteristic of the Renaissance man. Hamlet is obsessed with rational thought as the means of finding truth. He is torn in his thoughts with respect to avenging the murder of his father, ôTo be or not to be,--that is the question:--/Whether ætis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?ö (Shakespeare 1975, 1088).
HamletÆs demeanor is one of a rational being. He understands that ration is the essence of the human being. The Renaissance focus on humanism posited man as the center of the universe, in reaction to the growing influence of Christianity during the Middle Ages. We see that Hamlet expresses such a position of importance of human beings when he proclaims to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, ôWhat a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!ö (Shakespeare 1975, 1085).
Hamlet also embodies a number of capacities that make him a true ôRenaissanceö man. He is a scholar, a man of letters who is university trained. He has a keen appreciation of the arts, and stages a play within the play to help him ent...